Best For Any Budget/Skill Level

Best Accounting Software for Freelancers and Contractors

Top 5 Best Affordable Accounting Software

The accounting needs of freelancers and independent contractors aren’t the same as small businesses – but that doesn’t mean they should be without accounting software. In the past, freelancers had very few options for accounting software – and those that offered “freelancer-friendly” programs often fell short. Today there are a few options, but not all of them offer what a freelancer needs. We selected these top five programs based on the accounting features specific to freelancers, including tax assistance (Schedule C’s and estimated quarterly taxes specifically), time tracking and keeping finances separate.

WorkingPoint

WorkingPoint was designed for freelancers and independent contractors – they also cater to small businesses with just one employee. Their software may not be the cutest to look at, but it is definitely rich in features that make keeping track of finances easier –including taxes.

With WorkingPoint, you get basic accounting features – including the ability to download bank transactions and categorize them. You can then automatically classify those expenses and income with IRS-approved Schedule C categories – so that tax time becomes a breeze. WorkingPoint also calculates your estimated quarterly tax payments – so you know exactly how much to pay each quarter and hopefully can keep the end-of-year taxes at a minimum.

You can also collect payments right in WorkingPoint and customize invoices so you take your freelancing to the next level. WorkingPoint integrates with PayPal – so you can request PayPal payments instead of paying other credit card transaction fees.

WorkingPoint is also one of the few to offer time tracking – not just timesheets. You can log hours then automatically convert them into invoices in their system. This is especially helpful for freelancers that bill by the hour.

A Few Details about this Software:

WorkingPoint offers a free 30-day trial so you can see if the software works for you. After that, you can choose from one of two plans:

Lightning – Offers all of the features of WorkingPoint for one user and you can send up to 10 invoices per month for just $9 per month or $99 per year.

Thunderstorm – Offers all of the features of WorkingPoint with unlimited users and unlimited invoices for $19 per month or $190 per year.

Customized Invoices:

Credit Card/Paypal Processing: Added Fee

Expense Tracking:

Import Bank Transactions:

Estimates or Quotes:

Employee Time Sheets

Converts Estimates/Quotes to Invoices:

1099's:

Managing and Paying Bills:

W2's:

Inventory Tracking:

Prints or Electronically Processes Payroll Checks:

Want to customize your dashboard? WorkingPoint lets you control what shows up on your dashboard and you can even add outside applications by using their widgets.

Quickbooks Self Employed

QuickBooks Self-Employed was released not too long ago as QuickBooks’ answer to freelancer-friendly software. Their accounting program is done online – so you can access it via mobile or your computer. It is a user-friendly software that has attractive dashboards and great features.

Overall QB Self-Employed has most of the accounting features freelancers need, including allowing you to download your transactions from your bank and then determine if they’re “Personal” or “Business.” This is great for freelancers that don’t have separate bank accounts for their business. Also, the Self-Employed version lets you categorize transactions and automatically populates a Schedule C for faster tax time. With the Self-Employed version, you can also calculate your quarterly estimated tax payments and track them in the system.

If you upgrade to the TurboTax edition, you can actually import your Schedule C over and file taxes.

There is no time tracking with QuickBooks Self-Employed, but it is a feature they are working to add – according to customer service.

A Few Details about this Software:

QuickBooks Self-Employed offers a free 30-day trial, but if you use that trial, you cannot enjoy the introductory rate.

There are two memberships to sign up for with QB Self-Employed:

Regular QuickBooks Self-Employed: This includes all of the features of the program for one user. Introductory rate is $4.99 per month for six months and then $9.99 per month.

QuickBooks Self-Employed with TurboTax: This bundles your QB Self-Employed program with TurboTax for faster taxes. You can get the introductory rate of $11.99 per month for six months and then $16.99 per month after that.

Customized Invoices:

Credit Card/Paypal Processing: ~

Expense Tracking:

Import Bank Transactions:

Estimates or Quotes:

Employee Time Sheets

Converts Estimates/Quotes to Invoices:

1099's:

Managing and Paying Bills:

W2's:

Inventory Tracking:

Prints or Electronically Processes Payroll Checks:

Need to send invoices? QuickBooks Self-Employed just started offering invoicing for their customers. It is a work in progress, but they are quick to accept feedback and implement requests from users. If you need more advanced accounting, you may need to look into QuickBooks Simple Start.

GoDaddy Online Bookkeeping

Free Trial: None# of Users Per Account: Not Specified# of Clients/Customers: UnlimitedCloud Based:

GoDaddy Online Bookkeeping (formerly known as Outright), was originally created by Intuit employees that wanted to provide more freelancer-friendly options.

As a cloud-based program, you can gain access to your account via the mobile app as well as a computer – though the mobile app is not necessarily as advanced as other programs. You can download and sync transactions from all of your accounts to better categorize them too.

You can estimate your quarterly tax payments and track them in GoDaddy’s system for better tax management. You can also categorize your transactions to populate a Schedule C for tax time.

With GoDaddy Online Bookkeeping you also can create invoices and then collect payments through the system via your PayPal or Stripe account (their fees will still apply).

A Few Details about this Software:

There is just one option with GoDaddy Online Bookkeeping, but there isn’t a free trial. For just $9.99 per month you can start your account today.

Customized Invoices:

Credit Card/Paypal Processing: Added Fee

Expense Tracking:

Import Bank Transactions:

Estimates or Quotes:

Employee Time Sheets

Converts Estimates/Quotes to Invoices:

1099's:

Managing and Paying Bills:

W2's:

Inventory Tracking:

Prints or Electronically Processes Payroll Checks:

Worried about paying upfront? The nice thing about GoDaddy Online Bookkeeping and other companies is that most do not require contracts – so if you don’t like them, you can cancel at any time.

Freshbooks

FreshBooks was designed for small business, but they have plenty of features that help self-employed individuals and freelancers alike.

The biggest feature of FreshBooks is how they let you download and synchronize transactions so that you can categorize them. They also let you create estimates and invoices that are customized and professional. You can collect payments through your PayPal account in FreshBooks or sign up for their in-house merchant account so that you can collect payments through the same service.

FreshBooks also offers a time-tracking app and timesheet. Because plenty of freelancers need to bill by the hour, having this feature is important.

Another fun feature of FreshBooks is that you can send your invoices and estimates via snail mail – and even sign up for credits so that it is mailed out by FreshBooks to save you some time. FreshBooks doesn’t offer estimated quarterly tax payments, but they still have plenty of freelancer-friendly features.

A Few Details about this Software:

FreshBooks offers a free 30-day trial and then you can choose from four different account options:

Sprout, which is limited to just five customers, starts at $12.95 per month or $139.92 per year. Seedling, which limits you to 25 clients per month, starts at $24.95 per month or $269.52 per year. Evergreen, which limits you to 250 clients, starts at $39.95 per month or $431.52 per year. Mighty Oak has no limitations and even allows you to add up to five staff members’ starts at $79.95 per month or $863.52 per year.

Customized Invoices:

Credit Card/Paypal Processing: Added Fee

Expense Tracking:

Import Bank Transactions:

Estimates or Quotes:

Employee Time Sheets

Converts Estimates/Quotes to Invoices:

1099's:

Managing and Paying Bills:

W2's:

Inventory Tracking:

Prints or Electronically Processes Payroll Checks:

Like to save? Then go with the annual payment option from FreshBooks. You will get a discount each month that comes out to anywhere from $1.00 to $8.00 per month.

Sage One

Sage One comes from the family of Sage products. While most Sage products are highly complex and often for large businesses, they recently gave in to the demands of freelancers and offered a more simplified accounting program.

Sage One does let you download and sync your transactions for faster inputting. You can also track inventory, create custom invoices and estimates, etc. They don’t offer estimated quarterly tax payments, but they have plenty of reports to help you stay organized for tax time. Also, they don’t support the Schedule C, but you can add the categories and then track them.

With Sage One, you can also keep track of your time – which is a nice feature.

A Few Details about this Software:

Sage One offers a free 30-day trial and then it is $10 per month for their cloud-based accounting program.

Customized Invoices:

Credit Card/Paypal Processing: Added Fee

Expense Tracking:

Import Bank Transactions:

Estimates or Quotes:

Employee Time Sheets

Converts Estimates/Quotes to Invoices:

1099's:

Managing and Paying Bills:

W2's:

Inventory Tracking:

Prints or Electronically Processes Payroll Checks:

Need something that is super simple to use? While Sage One is definitely easier than most Sage products, it can be too complicated for some. If you need something extremely easy to use, then we recommend WorkingPoint or QuickBooks Self-Employed first.